On Thursday, 28 April, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that if his country did not succeed in officially opening EU accession negotiations by the end of June, he would request that the applications of his country and North Macedonia no longer be processed together.
“[W]e have gone through a national consultation process with the Albanian citizens. The Albanian citizens were asked whether they would agree that, even if after the end of the French Presidency [of the Council of the EU—Ed.] the state remains unaltered, Albania could change its position and openly ask for the country to be actually decoupled”, he explained during a press conference after a meeting with Commissioner for Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi in Tirana.
He reiterated, however, that the goal was to open [negotiations] for both countries before the end of June. For his part, Mr Várhelyi specified that there was no “plan B” and that he was working hard to get Bulgaria to lift its veto on negotiations being opened with Skopje and, by extension, with Tirana.
“We must use the power we have. There cannot be a war in Europe, and Europe not use the power it has to stabilise the Western Balkans”, he argued. In his view, through the accession process, there could be long-term stability in the region. “There is no time for anybody involved in this process not to do what is needed”, warned the commissioner, adding that it was necessary to make a decision and move forward quickly. “[I]f not, it means we are surrendering the power we have”, insisted Mr Várhelyi, also pointing out that the EU’s credibility was at stake. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)